How to Succeed in CSC 3050

Some free advice from your friendly TAs & USTFs

Achieving Success in 3050

Great Success!

What is success in 3050?

• Most of you will feel that success is getting an A in this class

• Most of you however, will (probably) not be getting an A

• That's OK. You can still succeed without getting an A

• True success in 3050 is learning the material

• 3050 is not an easy course. It covers many topics, many of which will (probably) be new to you

How will I learn the material?

• Read the textbook and supplementary material

• Learn the things you need before you need them

• Do your own research on areas you know less about

I need help with concepts

• Read the textbook

• Come to office hours and ask your friendly TAs & USTFs for help

• Come and see Professor Hsu

• Ask a question on Piazza

I need help with a problem or bug

• Take a break! Relax a little and come back to the problem later. (This is why we don't do assignments last minute)

• First try to solve it on your own with the debugger

• Ask on Piazza

• Google is your friend

I can't get any answers and I'm confused!

The reality of asking questions online

• Problem: You can't find the help you need in the textbook/Piazza/online

• Solution: Come to our office hours, we won't bite!

Other Advice

• Learn how to use GDB before the assignments release

• Get comfortable with using the terminal

• Using a Linux system for your work could make life easier

• Start working on assignments as soon as possible